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Re: Picture of Wilt From High School

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Picture of Wilt From High School

sprints, high jumps, AND the shot put?

Look at a sprinter and then look at a shot putter. Totally different body types- hard to believe one could excel at both but he could have been a decathlete

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)

Re: Picture of Wilt From High School

Look at a sprinter and then look at a shot putter. Totally different body types- hard to believe one could excel at both but he could have been a decathlete

That's actually not true. It is less common today, but it happens.

As an example, Terry Cole, the running back on IU's Rose Bowl team was a star in both the 100y dash and shot put. And as I recall the stories, he wasn't worth anything in the 220y dash.

The body type of a short sprinter and SP'er is similar - powerful, explosive, short burst. Shot putters, because the elbow must stay in front of the hand, don't need huge arms (although they have huge arms). The shot is "put" from the lower body with a similar explosion to a sprinter out of the starting blocks. The Discus throw, with its spin move, is somewhat different.

Currently, many sprinters double in the 100/200, like Carl Lewis and U. Bolt. Those guys aren't built like running backs, but most sprinters are. Back in Wilt's era, 100y/SP was probably as common as 100y/220y. And 220y/440y combo in the long sprints was more common as then well. Only Michael Johnson has been able to accomplish that a world-class level in the past few decades. Generally, over the past 30 years or so, the 400m dash and 800m run have become "paired together" more than in the past -- the 800m is getting closer to being an all-out sprint.

About once a season, my college track team would add a "thrower" 4x100 relay and middle-distance 4x100 relay to a dual meet. Our regular 4x100 team of sprinters would win of course, but the real excitement after I handed off the baton was watching the throwers outsprint the 800m/1500m/3000m-SC guys. Hilarious. They were gasping for air... 100m was a long way for them, but their explosiveness mattered more than the long strides and endurance of the middle-distance guys, who hadn't broke a sweat even though they couldn't go any faster.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

The Following User Says Thank You to ChicagoJ For This Useful Post:

Re: Picture of Wilt From High School

Don't forget that Wilt was quite the volleyball player as well. Just a pretty frickin' awesome athlete.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetime’s worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."